My Amazing Girls
by Sarcastrow
Summary: The companion to My Precious Boys. Minerva reflects on the women she helped to grow.


_May 3 1999 6 PM._

 _After the party I mused about my precious boys. I believe I should do the same for my amazing girls_

My amazing girls

It was odd that there were only four girls sorted into Gryffindor in Nineteen -Ninety-one, but as time went on I realized it was as it should have been.

The Seer.

Parvati Patil and her sister are as different as a pair of twins can be. Padma is studious and focused, Parvati is far more concerned with boys and fashion than her school work, but still her intellect saves her from failing. More though, she has, as Sybil will attest, a strong ability at divination. I am quite skeptical of prophesy, but as the war year progressed I began to rely on Parvati for certain insights into what was happening in the broader world. She was unfailingly correct.

That night, a year ago yesterday, she proved why the hat placed her in my house. When she and Miss Brown foiled the first charge with a display of magical power and prowess that left many who watched speechless, I knew the hat had been right about both of them. Latter, in the great hall, after witnessing the death of Colin Creevey and Miss Brown's fall, Parvati became a ruthless killing machine. She thought her best friend dead, and she was exacting retribution on any Death Eater she encountered. I witnessed her kill four in a span of three seconds, spin and kill two more without breaking her stride.

And then she personally saved my life.

I was dueling Robert Muciber in the great hall when his son, Alberio, jumped into the fray and attempted to cast the Avada Kedavera on me. Parvati took off his wand arm, and then she _Incendioed_ both of them into the next life.

The Wolf

I was, I must admit, not one of Miss Brown's fans during her fling with Mr. Weasley. We all knew the real story, and Lavender only complicated an already delicate situation. She was a shallow person… until the war year. It was an incredible transformation, and one that made me love Lavender. When Neville was declared an "Undesirable" (I can't help but smile every time I think of the reasons why) Lavender and Seamus picked up where he left off, until they too were ostracized. Lavender organized the room of requirement into a proper barracks, running it with a firm hand and broking no slovenly behavior. She, along with Seamus, Ginny, Luna, Ernie, and Neville, made the sixth and seventh years into an actual fighting force. Her skills with a wand were a revelation. Many of us had no idea she was as accomplished at fighting as she turned out to be.

At One Hundred and Forty Three confirmed kills, she has the dubious distinction of being the most lethal witch England has ever produced. As I told Poppy last night, I'm very happy she is on our side.

The week after the battle proved something else; it proved Lavender has real and true friends. They saved her. The work that Hermione, Cho, Luna, and Horace did in potion making, along with Hermione's near manic charms research, produced a magical method for calming and integrating a lycanthrope. It may not ever be done again as it requires exacting potion making, eight very powerful witches, and an accomplished Legilimens.

Poppy and I converse regularly about Lavender. We both think she is on the mend in ways that go far beyond her injuries. She has spent so much time here in the hospital that Poppy and I have grown to know Lavender well. She isn't that vacuous girl anymore, and I have come to care very deeply for Miss Brown.

The Other One

Megan Fallow hardly ever gets the credit she is due. Not as pretty as Lavender, Not as extroverted as Parvati, and not as brilliant as Hermione, but every bit as brave as all of them. Megan, as did her dorm mates, participated fully in the battle. Of all the girls of her year I spent the most time with Megan. She needed my guidance more than the rest. Megan came from a mixed family in many ways. Her father is a wizard, her mother a squib. James Fallow is as typical a Hufflepuff as ever was, loving, kind, and a friend to all. Geneviève, his French wife, was exiled from her less than perfect family when she exhibited no magic. They sent her here, to England, to hide her, as she was a source of embarrassment for her family. James, wonderful man that he is, didn't give her status a second thought.

Megan lived in the shadow of her Ravenclaw brothers until her sorting, and then she embraced what it is to be Gryffindor with fervor. Her passion for justice, undoubtedly fueled by stories of her mother's rejection, led her to be one of Miss Grainger's staunchest allies in working for fair treatment of the elves. As with Miss Brown, Megan was injured quite badly, and, as with Miss Brown, she will recover. There is a cost, though.

The Acromantula are back in the forest, but for a time they were under the thrall of the Dark Lord. During the battle, when they attacked the castle, Megan led the counter attack. She was bitten in the left calf and the fang went to the bone. Poppy had to remove that bone and regrow one. Megan's other injury will always be with her. A second Acromantula bit her on the skull. One of its fangs drug across her left cheek, through her left eye, and then across her scalp. After Pomona blasted the spider from her, Megan picked up her wand and continued to fight. I am so proud of that girl. As for her wound, the scar will never fade, and her eye will never see again.

Megan will be inducted into the Auror academy upon her finishing school. Kingsley demanded it; she saved his life during the Acromantula attack.

The Bookworm

In all my years of instruction I had never met anyone as dedicated to learning as I am, until I met Hermione. That girl is the most scholarly, self-deprecating, focused, and above all, unfailingly fair-minded person I have ever encountered. It was a stroke of incredible luck that she and Harry became friends. Without Hermione, Harry would have foundered. She kept him focused, and she kept him from acting rashly.

Most of the time.

When she came to me, the buck toothed muggle born girl, she was already fluent in the theory behind much of transfiguration, charms, and potions. From a first year that sort of preparation was a joy and surprise, from a muggle born first year it was unheard of. After second year I began to expect it from her. Her scores only flagged once. My conversations with her during those emotionally trying months gave me an insight into her surprisingly fragile heart, a heart that Ronald Weasley has owned for quite some time. Hermione loves with the same passion she approaches everything with, and that unarmored heart leaves her vulnerable to accidental, in the case of Mr. Weasley, and intentional, as in the case of Mr. Malfoy, emotional abuse.

Hermione has related to me the entirety of her adventures during the war year. I am amazed they survived. They actually _WORE_ a horcrux! For months! That all it could muster up the deviltry to do was delude Mr. Weasley until he was out of its influence says volumes about their resiliency. Everyone in the Order knew what happened to Hermione while in the clutches of Riddles Whore (oh, did I say that again?). Remus told us after his visit to Shell Cottage to celebrate the birth of his son. If Molly hadn't done such a thorough job I'd hunt that evil bitch down and kill her again. I was angry, Molly was incensed; she has regarded Hermione as a de facto daughter for years. I was occupied at the time, but I have reviewed Poppy's memories of the fight between… that woman and Molly. I'm smirking again as I reflect.

Hermione survived her ordeal, though, and she came through that fire tempered like Sheffield steel. When she is minister, a thought that makes me grin like a child, her adversaries will have nothing to harm her with. They can say nothing that will diminish her self-confidence, and they can do nothing that can hurt her. She is invulnerable.

And this lioness will roar.

The one that should have been mine.

Pandora Clooney was a good friend and a remarkably intelligent woman. Why she married Xeno I have no idea, but marry him she did, and at age forty she had a child. Pandora probed the depths of magic, always looking for a new technique, a new way to manipulate the magic. Her death does not sit well with me, and it never has. I will under no circumstances accept that it was an accident of her own making. She was far too organized and diligent for a simple mistake, even in a monumental spell like the one she was attempting, to occur. There is more to that story, I'm certain, but Luna was the only one present, and that memory is one I do not wish for her to relive any more than she already has.

Luna Lovegood could be the cleverest witch presently at Hogwarts, and Hermione is here as I write. Not many understand her as I do. Her view of the world is unique, but it is not wrong. She inherited her mother's intellect and more. Luna is possibly the most powerful Legilimens alive. During her confinement with Garrick in Lucius's cellar she learned what she is. Garrick uses a form of Legilimency to connect wizard and wand, and when Luna came to him, battered and mute from Riddles interrogation, he recognized her latent talent. In their long confinement he nurtured her ability, honing her skills.

Luna has related to me her final encounter with Riddle, and she is unfailingly honest. The physical torture he put her through was nothing compared to the mental cruelty he inflicted on her, but that girl is so strong. Garrick had prepared her, forged her into an iron clad vessel for her soul. Riddle tried to crush her, tried to break her, but she stood. Where Hermione has a spine of hardened steel, Luna has a spine of willow, flexible and pliant. She bent in the hurricane of Riddle's hatred and self-loathing, always rising to her feet. When I went to visit Narcissa in her cell, and I questioned her, rather stridently I must admit, about her treatment of Luna and Garrick while they were her guests, she broke. She confessed her love for Luna. She confessed that she was too cowardly to try to save her the night of her torture, but she made certain that Luna was protected, especially from the male Death Eaters, after that. Luna already knew this, and it is why both Luna and I testified on Narcissa's behalf.

During the battle this remarkable young woman outperformed many older and more experienced wizards and witches. I personally witnessed her take on and defeat three at once. Her calm detachment in the heat of battle was unnerving to witness, and it was especially terrifying for her opponents. She only killed when she had to; unfortunately she had to kill eighteen times, not counting the twenty odd in the courtyard that fell for the trap Filius and Luna had prepared for them.

The girl who waited.

Ginevra Weasley deserves a diary entry all her own, but I shall try to be brief. Her first year was the most trying first year of any girl who ever attended this school. Only Harry can know better what the hell she went through was like. Being possessed, especially by that thing, leaves a scar. I've seen it, but Ginevra is as strong and resilient as any Weasley. They really are remarkable people.

Harry's plan to protect her worked, for the most part. While the death eaters didn't abduct her to draw out Harry, Ginny didn't help her own cause. Her subversive activities here drew Alecto's ire, and she was punished. Much to my shame, every Gryffindor present at the school that year knew the horror of the Cruciatus. Just as much to my pride, every one of them didn't shirk, cower, or run. Ginny and Colin actually laughed in Gregory Goyle's face after he tortured them, and I took great pleasure in binding, silencing, and sticking that brain dead lump of flesh to the ceiling of the great hall for the duration of the battle. It was a pity that we didn't remember him for close to a day, or perhaps not.

Ginny had Abeforth's back throughout the battle. She stuck to him, and with him, and she fought with a ferocity I have rarely witnessed, except, perhaps in the pensieve as I watched her mother remove that evil… HER from our lives and hers. Ginny and Harry are an excellent match, and I will be pleased to see them wed next year.

At the party last night they were all present, in every way. Parvati made it her mission to get Lavender out and in company. It worked. While Miss Patil danced and laughed with Anthony Goldstein most of the night, she did find time to share him with her best friend. Lavender had a smile I never thought I'd see again as Mr. Goldstein swept her around the room. Then she danced with a fair few of the other young men present. I did notice that, during her dance with Mr. Finnigan, she laid her head on his shoulder and hugged him tighter than the others.

And I think I was the only one to see Seamus' tears.

Megan was on the arm of Ernie MacMillan, and they are a fitting couple. Ernie proved his loyalty and strength over and over during the reign of the Carrows, and it was Ernie himself that killed Amycus after he and Alecto were freed from Ravenclaw tower by… Riddles… HER.

Megan has embraced her injury and wears colorful and imaginative eyepatches over her left eye. I have spoken to her about a replacement similar to the one Alastor had, and she will be acquiring one at the beginning of her Auror training. As she and Ernie moved through the crowd, chatting amiably with everyone, I let a sigh of relief go. Megan will be fine, better than fine. She will be a warrior, and future criminals should shake in their boots at the thought.

Hermione and Luna are two sides of the same galleon, both phenomenally intelligent, both growing into their power as women, and both forces to be reckoned with. Their friendship has blossomed in a way I never expected. Because they are so diametrically opposed in their views of reality I feared they would be at odds constantly. I was entirely wrong; they are the best of friends. Luna keeps Hermione from being too serious, too closed to possibilities. Hermione helps Luna to be more focused and grounded. They complement each other in a way that is wonderful to watch.

They both also have young men that would move the world for them if they just ask. Ronald worships Hermione. Oh, he knows she's mortal and fallible, but that just makes him love her all the more. Molly is ecstatic. She is acquiring Hermione as a daughter and Harry as a son next year. She flooed in to the school this morning to gush over her newly engaged daughter. Luna and Dean are an unlikely, but perfect pair, the moon in the arms of night. Dean has, quite successfully, eliminated the unkind moniker that followed Luna until the last year. "Loony" has been completely replaced by "Miss Lovegood". Luna tells me they don't even think it anymore. I'm grinning in recollection of the event that ended it. Fillus was watching, unseen, from the great hall as the second year Ravenclaw used the term Loony. Dean had him by the throat and hanging in midair before the unfortunate boy had made two steps. He delivered a short, intense lecture on the proper way to address and refer to Luna.

It was the last time anyone I know heard that word uttered at Hogwarts.

Harry and Ginny danced and laughed the whole evening. It was delightful to see them so happy. Hermione has already conscripted Ginny as her maid of honor, with Luna, Parvati, Lavender, and Megan as bride's maids. Harry is Ron's best man, and I assume Ron will be Harry's. It will be interesting to see who Ginevra chooses for her bridal party. That girl will cut a swath through the world equal to her sister in law.

As I approached the drinks table last night they were all there. Ginny was gently taking the mick from Lavender, telling her that she needed at least three more werewolf attacks to bring her down to the rest of the girl's level of beauty, and Lavender laughed. They all did. The bond that now exists between them all seems to be as strong as any sibling bond I have ever seen. Had it not been for Megan's convalescence at St. Mungo's, she would have been present at the night of Lavender's healing too.

But the best thing is the friendship that has blossomed between Hermione and Lavender. I loathe inter dorm drama, and it was in full swing their sixth year. Now, after Hermione's saving of Lavender from the werewolf, and then her spearheading the research that saved Lavender from the madness during her transformations, the looks the two share with each other are ones of love and respect.

My amazing girls are women now, witches with purpose, drive, and power. The young men they have chosen fit them well, Miss Brown and Mr. Finnigan aside. They will be the ones to manage the changes we must make in our society if we are to never repeat the sins of the past. I was worried, on and off, about each of them during their tenure here, but they came through every trial stronger than before.

As Hermione takes up her power, as Ginny uses her voice, as Luna ascends, they are becoming a force unstoppable. Together with Parvati, Padma, Megan, Cho, Angelina, Katie, and Lavender my amazing women will shake the pillars of the world.

 **A/N JK gave us Luna's mother's name recently, Pandora. I had a different name and have updated my stories to reflect this new information.**


End file.
